Strings 'N Things: Fall 2015 Offerings
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STRINGS ‘N THINGS: FALL 2015 OFFERINGS AUER, Leopold (1845-1930) FRAMED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH. New York, 1918. Visible image: 23.50" h x 19.25" w. Total size in contemporary mahogany frame: 29.75" h x 25. 50" w. Signed by both Auer and Mishkin. Excellent, pristine condition. The letter "T" in the inscription is a bit raised from Auer's having pressed his pen hard. Extraordinary original photograph by Mishkin, signed in red crayon "Mishkin / NY" on lower left. The photograph is inscribed by Auer to the noted violin dealer Rudolph Wurlitzer on the lower right: "To Herr Rudolph Wurlitzer / L. Auer / New York 20/5 1918". Auer had just moved to New York earlier in the year and had given a concert in Carnegie Hall on March 23. The one and only Leopold Auer - violinist, pedagogue, conductor and composer - is undoubtedly best remembered now for his unprecedented career as a violin teacher. Himself a pupil of the great Joachim, he taught among others Jascha Heifetz, Efrem Zimbalist, Mischa Elman, Kathleen Parlow, Benno Rabinof, Oscar Shumsky and Toscha Seidel. He joined the faculty of what became Juilliard in 1926 and in 1928 joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. ALS-12201 $3,500.00 AUER, Leopold (1845-1930) PRESENTATION BATON. March 19, 1903. 16.75" long x 0.50+" wide. Fine condition. Presentation baton given to the great violin pedagogue Leopold Auer by a mens' choir. Ebony with sterling silver ferrule, end piece and metal lyre decoration on top. Inscribed to "M. G. Leopold Auer", "Männerchor". The endcap bears the etched initials "F.B." (possibly the maker?) ODA-12383 $300.00 BAZZINI, Antonio (1818-1897) AUTOGRAPH MUSICAL QUOTATION, "CAUSERIE - MORCEAU DE SALON", signed "A. Bazzini". Inscribed "Souvenir à Mr. Ries". June 30, 1854. 8" h x 10.5" w on brown stock. Fine, save for a tiny chip on upper right hand corner. Attractive six-bar musical quotation, scored for piano and violin, and entitled by Bazzini "Causerie - Morceau de Salon." It is dated underneath on a staff line followed by the signature. Bazzini toured extensively as a violinist, then taught at the Milan Conservatory from 1873 and became its director in 1882. As a composer, he wrote mostly for the violin but also wrote an opera and several symphonic works. This quotation is from one of his numerous salon pieces and is inscribed to M. Ries, undoubtedly a member of the large family of musicians by that name. AMQ-08210 $375.00 BEETHOVEN VIOLIN CONCERTO CANDENZAS Trois Cadences pour le Concerto de Violon, Oeuvre 61 composés par H. Vieuxtemps; 3 Cadenzen zu L. van Beethoven's Violin-Concerto….von Joseph Joachim; Cadenzen zum Beethoven'schen Violin-Concert von Ferdinand David. Paris, Offenbach; Vienna, Haslinger; Breitkopf & Hårtel. Early engraved editions. quarto. 7, 4 and 5 pages. Soft red mottled boards with taped spine. Edges of binding a little ragged, a few slight soilings from thumbing and a few only penciling. CADENZAS BY VIEUXTEMPS, JOACHIM AND DAVID Three cadenzas from three master violinists for one of the greatest of all violin concertos. MUS-12318 $275.00 BULL, Ole (1810-1880) ENGRAVED PORTRAIT. Total size in mat: 15" h x 12" w. Fine (extremely slight foxing). An attractive portrait of the youthful "Norwegian Paganini" shown holding his violin. It is "drawn from the life" by E.T. Parris, with Bull's facsimile signature under his image. Published by Charles Tilt in London, 1836. GPH-12348 $150.00 CASALS, Pablo (1876-1973) AUTOGRAPH SIGNED MUSICAL QUOTATION, signed "Pau. Casals". 1927. Album leaf measuring c. 6" h x 7.75" w. 1p. Excellent condition with minor transfer showing from previous page. The great cellist has penned a two-bar quotation from a Bach Suite - Casals championed these pieces when they were still relatively unknown to the public and they became closely associated with his performances. The verso is signed by the violinist Nathan Milstein: "N. Milstein, B. Aires 1937" AMQ-12358 $675.00 CELLO - AN ODDITY OF NOTE - PRACTICE/TRAVEL INSTRUMENT German. Very late 19th-century or early 20th. Full-sized cello. Case measures 40" l x 7.50" w x 7" deep on one end and 5" deep on the other end. Overall excellent condition save for small repaired cracks at both upper corners on top and a little rubbing in a few places along edges and back where it would have been set down. An unusual and rare instrument made towards the end of the 19th-century in Germany, being a cello "base" plus parts that once assembled creates the size of a full-sized cello. The body is of narrow-flamed maple. The ribs, one-piece back and scroll are of attractive wide-flamed maple. Inlaid ebony purfling. The permanently- attached end piece bears a paper label marked "P./Patent/382/T.W.W." The instrument is assembled as follows: a curved piece of maple has two wooden pegs which attach to the upper back to obtain the normal depth of a full-sized cello. A similar piece with a permanent piece curved like the side of an instrument and another folding flange on the other side attaches to the bottom of the end piece and enables the player to have the full width of a normal instrument. The wooden end piece is attached through this last piece, held by screwing it in as well as two pins. The instrument comes with its own heavy, black wooden case with blue felt lining and inside attached metal container (presumably for strings or rosin) and leather handle. We have never had or even seen another instrument like this. INS-12417 $3,750.00 CELLO - OIL PAINTING MICHEL-LÉVY, Henri (1845-1914) OIL PAINTING STILL LIFE WITH CELLO AND MANDOLIN. C. 18" h x 14" w. In an ornate gold frame with a total measurement of 24" h x 21" w. Frame has a plaque with the artist's name and dates (1849-1914). Attractive appearance and in overall good condition except for a few minor paint blemishes and retouching. The painting is lined. Signed by the artist on the lower right. The French painter and sculptor Henri Michel-Lévy was a pupil of Félix Barrias and Antoine Vollon. He exhibited at the Salon in Paris regularly between 1868 and 1914. He was a great friend of the Impressionists, and a portrait of him painted by Degas can be seen in the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon. GPH-08960 $3,000.00 CERVETTO, Giacobbe (1682-1783) MEZZOTINT PORTRAIT. London, 1771. Total size with mat: 20" h x 16.25" w; measurement to the plate: circa 14" h x 10" w. Overall excellent with a few minor blemishes. A fine, original and scarce mezzotint portrait of the Italian cellist Giacobbe Cervetto, who was known also by the name of "Ceruetti" and who lived to the ripe old age of 101. Cervetto also composed for his instrument. He was one of many London-based Italians who brought the cello into favor in England. The portrait is by M. A. Picot after the painting by Zoffini. GPH-12345 $650.00 . DAVIDOFF, Karl (1838-1889) AUTOGRAPH LETTER, signed "Karl Davidoff". To "Dear Mr. Senf". 15/27 April. Octavo. On 1p. of a folded sheet of lined paper with return address on verso. Fine condition (vertical creases). With translation. The famous Russian cellist is writing, in German, to the publisher Senff in Leipzig: I took the liberty at present of sending you from Berlin corrections for....Petersburg, in order to expedite your kind forwarding of them to Musici A [?]. The corrections, although already submitted in February, have still not arrived. Please have the great kindness of informing Reval or me whether you received corrections at all and whether you sent them off. With many apologies." Karl Yulievich Davidoff was the most acclaimed cellist of his time, and was called the "star of cellists" by Tchaikovsky. Davidoff was also a composer, mainly for the cello and was the director of the Conservatory in Moscow. Davidoff's celebrated 1712 Stradivari cello, now known as the "Davidoff" (later owned by Jacqueline du Pré and loaned to Yo-Yo Ma) was presented to him as a gift by its owner, Count Wielhorsky, who pronounced " …I cannot imagine anyone playing [it] better than you." ALS-01459 $275.00 DIDEROT ET D'ALEMBERT VIOLIN PLATES, SET OF 3. In matching mats, each having a total measurement of 19.50" h x 14.50" w. Clean and crisp but each with a small worm hole on the left plate mark. Engraved first-edition plates from the 18th-century Encyclopédie of Diderot and d'Alembert, which was produced over 20 years from 1751 to 1772 with first editions appearing in both Paris and Amsterdam. Plates such as these are held in great esteem for their accuracy. Plates 11, 12 and 13 of the lutherie section showing stringed instruments in the first plate and instrument-making tools in the second and third plates. GPH-12207 $500.00 DOUBLE BASS MINIATURE Total length: 9" + 0.75" end pin; width at widest point of lower bout 3.25". Excellent condition (a few places very slightly rubbed on edges). A fine German four-string to-scale miniature double bass dating from the first half of the 20th century. Spruce top, inlaid purfling, two-piece finely flamed maple back and maple sides. Ebony fittings with brass machinehead tuners. Miniature double basses are quite uncommon. ODA-12416 $1,200.00 FRANCESCATTI, Zino TYPED LETTER, signed "Zino Francescatti". Sept 27, 1976. 11" h x 8.5 w. 2 pp. With envelope. Fine. A letter to the noted pedagogue Josef Gingold from his friend the famous violinist Zino Francescatti, regarding the possibility of Gingold accepting the young violinist Nina Horton as a student.